Session 5 | Abortion Pills 101 with Dr. Ruchi Kaul
Release Date: 10/30/2023
Session 25 | Migrantes Unidos with Marìa Torres Wedding
Abortion Academy with SYA
María Torres Wedding, creator and director of Migrantes Unidos, will discuss their vital work with us, including how they design impactful community projects slowly and intentionally and how they create mutually beneficial relationships and use interdisciplinary approaches to build trust, shared learning, and people power. Migrantes Unidos is an amazing group who works to end the surveillance of immigrant communities in the US, and empower those living under surveillance to build networks of support. This is our first Abortion Academy that doesn’t have a repro focus, and that is...
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Session 24 | Study Abroad with Dr. Maeve O'Brien/Alliance for Choice Derry
Abortion Academy with SYA
In this session we spoke with Dr. Maeve O’Brien from Alliance for Choice Derry about the state of abortion access across the island of Ireland and recent developments in England and Wales. Northern Ireland decriminalized abortion in 2019 and since then has enjoyed a gold standard level of abortion healthcare – with free, safe and decriminalized abortion widely available across all trusts. In the Republic of Ireland, abortion access is still difficult with a punitive three-day-waiting-period and difficulties engaging rural providers. We learned more about how stigma operates in an Irish...
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Session 23 | The Plant World and Abortion with Bonnie McIntosh
Abortion Academy with SYA
We talk with a full spectrum doula and herbalist Bonnie McIntosh about herbal support for abortions. We'll dig deeper into the huge topic of herbs and their uses and learn more about how plants can be our allies. We'll also get guidance for supportive herbs in surgical and medication abortions, with a focus on misoprostol-only protocols. Bio Bonnie McIntosh is a clinical herbalist & full spectrum doula. She is a cofounder of the Colorado Doula Project, as well as an organizer for Holistic Abortions. Her work as a doula focuses on abortion, miscarriage, & birth, where she brings...
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Session 22 | Study Abroad with Davinia Hamilton (Malta)
Abortion Academy with SYA
In this session we talk with Maltese playwright Davinia Hamilton. Hamilton talks with us about her award-winning play Blanket Ban, which takes its name from the incredibly restrictive abortion policies in Malta. We learn more about the situation in Malta and how this play and her work are a form of activism. We’re joined in this session by co-facilitator Anne Rumberger from Lux Magazine and Chicago for Abortion Rights. Davinia Hamilton is a Maltese-born, London-based writer, performer, and activist. She is the co-writer of Blanket Ban, an award-winning play about Malta’s abortion ban....
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Session 21 Mutual Aid 101 with Dean Spade
Abortion Academy with SYA
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Session 20 | Art & Activism with Mar Lorenzo (MX) and Lara Islinger (DE)
Abortion Academy with SYA
The first episode in our "Study Abroad" section of Abortion Academy features artist and activist Mar Lorenzo and activist/researcher/Lara Islinger. Mariana Lorenzo, aka , is a textile designer and illustrator. Her art passionately advocates for women's rights, exploring themes of self-esteem, feminism, and LGBTQ advocacy. Lara Islinger is an an activist, researcher, and writer committed to decriminalizing, destigmatizing and demedicalizing abortion. Her work spotlights self-managed abortion and feminist grassroots networks providing alegal abortion care and accompaniment/doula support....
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Session 19 | Ethical Pregnancy Support
Abortion Academy with SYA
JustChoice is a grassroots organization founded by people with a range of experience with abortion, adoption, parenting, and the foster care system. The organization is built around the principle that a pregnant person cannot make an ethical adoption decision without having access to all their pregnancy options, including abortion. JustChoice is contacted by pregnant people who need support—emotional, financial, administrative or otherwise—and staff help them navigate both their pregnancy decisions and the systems surrounding pregnancy that are so notoriously harmful, especially to...
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Session 18 | Abortion is Ours
Abortion Academy with SYA
In this session we spoke with Natalia Broniarczyk from Poland's Abortion Dream Team. We talked about self-managed abortion, abortion with and without mifepristone, strategies for international solidarity, abortion in restricted contexts, and much more. Natalia Broniarczyk is a Polish abortion rights activist. She is a member of the Abortion Dream Team (pl: Aborcyjny Dream Team), created in October 2016 to help people in Poland source and safely take abortion pills in a country where abortion is illegal in nearly all circumstances. As part of the Abortion Dream Team, Broniarczyk provides...
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Session 17 | Community Resilience
Abortion Academy with SYA
SYA Executive Director Amelia Bonow and SYA Organizing Director Jex Blackmore talk about building strong, resilient networks with the people around us in order to to prepare for the difficult times ahead. Amelia and Jex talk about the connection between abortion access and forging strong communities, and offer some concrete suggestions for how to build your own.
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Session 16 | Plan C Pills
Abortion Academy with SYA
In this session of Abortion Academy we talk with Elisa Wells and Lauren Hattaway from Plan C Pills. We focus on how the US presidential election outcomes could affect abortion pill access in the US, including potential legal and regulatory challenges posed by election outcomes: a federal ban, enforcing the Comstock Act, threats to shield laws, and more.
info_outlineDr. Kaul lead a fascinating Abortion Pills 101 breakdown, covering questions about the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol, how the pills work and how late into pregnancy they work, misoprostol-only protocol and effectiveness, medical FAQs on pills, and more!
Abortion pills are an essential way that folks access abortion in the US and globally, and the number of people using pills to have safe abortions is growing daily. This is an absolute do-not-miss session for folks interested in ensuring abortion access via pills.
Ruchi Kaul (she/her) is the physician and founder of Maitri Wellness, one of the first direct primary care practices in New Jersey. Prior to opening her practice, she taught full spectrum family medicine, including abortion care, to family medicine residents. She was the third US provider to start mailing pills during COVID and contributed to the data that helped the FDA make mailing of the pills legal. She is also a co-founder of the Abortion Freedom Fund, and volunteers for the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline. She is, more recently, a co-founder of Abuzz Health, an organization that mails pills to pregnant people desiring to end their pregnancy and makes sure each patient gets the care and resources that they need before, during, and after their abortion. Abuzz wants to education people as much as possible about abortion, and so provides resources and information even to people who are not their clients. In her own medical practice, Ruchi integrates Western medicine with older traditions, such as Ayurveda and acupuncture, as well as coaching and transgender care, and strives to make that care affordable and accessible.